School Committee still on camera plan but lauds Walpole HS students for input

Monday

Mar 11, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 11, 2013 at 11:17 AM

While Walpole’s school leaders are still supportive of the proposal to put security cameras in school hallways, the petition started by several high school students has them re-thinking how the proposal came to be.

Veronica Hamlett

While Walpole’s school leaders are still supportive of the proposal to put security cameras in school hallways, the petition started by several high school students has them re-thinking how the proposal came to be.

Superintendent Lincoln Lynch is meeting this week with the students who presented more than 200 signatures of students against security cameras at last week’s School Committee meeting. Seniors Ross Bubly, Sean Herlihy, Lucas Knight and junior Jon Kelland brought the petition forward on behalf of their group Students Opposing Surveillance, concerned the cameras violate their privacy and foster unnecessary searches and seizures.

Lynch is still in favor of a dozen cameras monitoring the high school’s major hallways but said this week that faculty and students deserved to learn more about the cameras sooner than later.

"I think, in retrospect, I should have met with them before the proposal was submitted," he said. "When it was submitted, I did not view it as impeding anyone’s freedoms. It’s simply to ensure students’ safety and the security of the facility."

Security cameras for all seven Walpole schools are being considered as part of this year’s capital budget request. If approved at Spring Town Meeting in May, the cameras would be installed in time for next school year.

Town Meeting representatives will make the final call, but Lynch said they’re taking steps to make the cameras a community decision and quell any concerns between now and May.

"It’s my responsibility to provide options and a safe learning environment, and I still believe cameras do that, but they’re welcome to make their case, and if they can convince policy makers that it’s not a good decision, then that’s what democracy is all about," Lynch said.

Bubly, Herlihy, Kelland and Knight told the committee cameras in the high school hallways come across as punitive and distrusting of the students, especially since they weren’t included in the decision-making process.

"School is supposed to be for the students, and the students should have a say, and we weren’t happy with the fact that we weren’t even going to know," Bubly said. "We feel strongly that the administration’s trust is important, and that trust will just start to go away."

They also took issue with the cost of the cameras, estimated at $37,000 for the high school and $15,000 for each of the other schools. Lynch said that since the funding would come from the capital budget – which is funded with free cash – it won’t eat up money from the school budget.

"It’s not recurring revenue that can be used for say a teacher’s salary," Lynch said.

Committee chairman Nancy Gallivan, who is still in favor of the security cameras, told the students they were causing them to think about both emotional and physical safety.

"We’re going to continue to have some more conversations with the staff and the students, but I’m certainly leaning toward supporting the cameras, yes," Gallivan said.

Bubly, Herlihy, Kelland and Knight are still gathering signatures, hoping to give every student a chance to consider the petition before turning it over to the School Committee. Gallivan said the petition and movement is more influential than the number of names on it.

"What I’d really like to do is continue the conversation to understand, and maybe other people in the community want to understand better too, but it’s not a matter of just how many signatures got collected," she said, "which is also the case with petitions. It states an opinion, but we often can’t or don’t just rely on how many signatures got collected."

Gallivan and committee member Allan Cameron had high praise for the petitioners, who told the committee they didn’t want to be viewed as disobedient, misbehaving students.

"You four are a real testament to your leadership and initiative," Cameron said. "When I was in high school I wouldn’t have had the courage to get signatures. You’re articulate and polished, so very well done representing your peers."